Pleurothallis masdevalliopsis Luer 1979 SUBGENUS Masdevalliantha Luer 1986TYPE for the SUBGENUS

TYPE Drawing by © Carl Luer

Common Name or Meaning The Masdevallia-Like Pleurothallis

Flower Size .8" [2 cm]

Found in Ecuador in scrub cloud forests at elevations around 2500 meters as a mini-miniature sized, cold growing epiphyte with stout, erect ramicauls enveloped by 2 tubular sheaths and carrying a single, apical, erect, thickly coriaceous, elliptical-linear, narrowly obtuse, narrowing below intothe subpetiolate base leaf that blooms in the summer on a slender, .6 to .8" [1.5 to 2 cm] long, single flowered inflorescence arising from the ramicaul below the apex.

CAUTION All photos that I can find on the net marked Pleurothallis masdevalliopsis are actually Pleurothallis longiserpens from Peru. The lip apex of P masdevalliopsis is loosely and sparsely fringed and the base of the lip is deeply concave and accomodates a finger like extension of the tip of the column foot. There are also a pair of calli below the middle of the lip which is cleft in between. We need photos of the side of the flower showing the lip detail. P masdevalliopsis has a broadly falcate side lobe of the lip and P longiserpens has an ovate side lobe. The vegetative parts of P masdevalliopsis will also be with a very short .2 to .4" [5 to 10 mm] ramicaul and aand have a subpetiolate base to the narrowly obtuse leaf. P longiserpens has a .8 to 2" [2 to 5 cm] long ramicaul.

Synonyms Andinia masdevalliopsis (Luer) Karremans & Mark Wilson 2017; Masdevalliantha masdevalliopsis (Luer) Szlac & Marg. 2001

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Icones Pleurothallidinarum Systematics of Pleurothallis Vol 3 Luer 1986 drawing fide; Native Ecuadorian Orchids Vol 4 Dodson drawing fide; Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol XXVIII Luer 2006 as Masdevalliantha masdevalliopsis;

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